Look...I have knocked Stuckey when he needs it and I don't drink the Kool-Aid. That comment is unfair and hyperbole. And we all feel comfortable (mostly in frustration) in using it at times.

He has an upside talent and we need not go too far in thinking that a learning curve is completely unproportional with the marketing of quick-time professionals into celebrities. Sheed, Rip, Tay and AI fit-the-bill quite nicely, thank you.

I remarked some time ago about my main concern; the potential regression of Stuckey within the current atmosphere: where he was going to be bounced back-in-forth between a veteran (all-star) team whose huge egos would not go lightly.

The question some might ask: why the concern?

Look at his demeanor: placid and not aggressive. This is an expression, writ large internally, that need nurturing externally. In the current mind frame of atmosphere, he must hunker-down and try to do no wrong. For a PG, this is a regression of learning not to feel dismissive about your mistakes.

It's arrested development. You might ask of what? Let us remember, that Stuckey is a product of a small school. Talent has an undue influence of potential writ-large that witnesses a fish, with little wiggle room, in a small pond. He came out in his junior year and missed activity in his first NBA season. Talent (not lost) was minimized by mental stasis. JD might have recognized and wanted to think of him of his alter ego: but JD, in his playing days, had enormous buffers working next to him, that Stuckey does not have. Stuckey's regression is take-off on JD's current mind set.

It is wrong (and ever more comfortable) to compare different styles with associated positional roles. Stuckey is not a point guard. To make him so is too depreciate one's talent in recognizing that personality is merely a by-product.

Bynum (like AI) is a classic point guard. It is a purity of always going forward. You can have talent with all types of quickness, agility, and flying manuevers...but, without that mental grasp, you will fall short. Bynum is a world traveler...lean, hungry and dancing to his music.

This is probably the best place to point out that Joe didn't exactly waste the ability to get a guy like Bosh or Amare (or whoever your "guy" is) when the trade deadline expired.

The difference is that now he is under the cap. Instead of a "guy" for Iverson or Rasheed, being under the cap allows Joe to be one of those teams that can swing an "Amare for Walter Sharpe and a second round pick" just to provide Phoenix with cap relief.

Somewhere in these deals trade exceptions get created I believe, which have high value in themselves.

This summer, as has already been astutely pointed out, will be very telling of Joe's ability.

This is probably the best place to point out that Joe didn't exactly waste the ability to get a guy like Bosh or Amare (or whoever your "guy" is) when the trade deadline expired.

The difference is that now he is under the cap. Instead of a "guy" for Iverson or Rasheed, being under the cap allows Joe to be one of those teams that can swing an "Amare for Walter Sharpe and a second round pick" just to provide Phoenix with cap relief.

Somewhere in these deals trade exceptions get created I believe, which have high value in themselves.

This summer, as has already been astutely pointed out, will be very telling of Joe's ability.

Click to expand...

Good points. You can also do things on draft night such as a player plus your pick for a top 10 pick if you can find another willing team that is also under the cap.